[IPk] Pumping in Hospital

Hi
I had the unfortunate experience of being admitted to hospital last week 2
weeks after giving birth due to a complcation arising after child birth. I had
to have a general anaesthetic so had to fast overnight. I was allowed to keep
using my pump until 7am on the day of the operation after which I was attached
to an insulin and dextrose drip using actrapid and a sliding scale.
Initially, I was quite happy with this as this is the standard protocol for
treating diabetics who require anaesthetics. However, I was not allowed back
on to my pump until the following morning in case I felt sick and couldn't
eat. At the time I agreed to this as I was in a lot of pain and was pretty
much out of it after the anaesthetic and morphine. However, I was shocked by
the lack of knowledge shown by the nursing and medical staff. The dextrose
drip only lasted for 4 hours and each time it ran out it took up to 45 mins
for someone to change the bag. During this time an alarm was sounding
continually and I was still receiving insulin. This, on top of hourly BM
tests, was bad enough during the day but when it occured during the night it
was awful. I tried to explain the consequences of just receiving insulin and
no dextrose to the nurses but they kept telling me not to get anxious! Of
course on each occassion I went hypo about 1-2 hours later and they then had
to reduce the insulin dose and give me lucozade. Then 1-2 hours later guess
what, I would have a high BM so the insulin dose would be put up. I was
absolutely fed up with this and the hourly BM tests and by 3am I was ready to
burst with anger. Apart from the fact that I was getting no sleep, my baby was
being disturbed every hour and was extremely unsettled. As I was attached to
the drips I couldn't even manage to life her out of the cot so it was very
distressing.
Eventually, I lost my patience and went mad insisting that they take the
drips down and let me put my pump back on but of course they wouldn't and I
had to put up with it until after breakfast.
What really annoys me is that during all of this no one really trusted my
judgement. I am sure that I have lots more knowledge of diabetes than most of
the staff in the hospital yet they insisted that they had to follow the
protocol
I am terrified in case I have to go into hospital again as I don't want to
have a repeat experience. Has any other pump user had an anesthetic and if so
how was your diabetes treated in hospital? I would really appreciate any
advice.
Thanks
Susan
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